Rockland County Executive Ed Day held a press conference critical of Spring Valley for their lack of support for the Hi Tor Animal Care Center which services the village on April 25, 2018. (Photo: Ricky Flores/The Journal News)Buy Photo

POMONA – Michael Sanducci is now the former director of the Rockland County-funded Hi Tor Animal Shelter after he was fired today for what the board of directors called job abandonment but what he calls his and his staff’s attempt to “stand up and get justice” for the animals in the overcrowded shelter.

Sanducci told The Journal News/lohud that roughly half his staff has walked off the job in protest of his dismissal.

In the wake of the mass exodus, those remaining at Hi Tor put the word out that emergency staff was needed to run the shelter. The message was relayed on Facebook by numerous users.

Shelter volunteer Robin Benado then posted a redacted text she said she received from a local animal hospital employee that said a Hi Tor board member confirmed “mass euthanasia” for the animals was “a major possibility” if there wasn’t staff on hand to take care of them.

“This is a travesty,” Linda Mattson, a New City resident and frequent volunteer at the shelter, told The Journal News/lohud. “Mike Sanducci made that shelter more humane. He would take animals home with him over the weekend if they needed care. Who’s going to take care of those animals now?”

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Volunteers and staff talk Saturday about concerns that they have at the Hi Tor Animal Care Center in Pomona.(Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News)

A Change.org petition in support of Sanducci and the shelter was created late Saturday afternoon.

Sanducci said he was responsible for changing policy to make Hi Tor a no-kill shelter. His firing comes roughly a week after he and his staff walked off the job following an argument he had with Debbie DiBernardo, president of the shelter’s board of directors.

Sanducci told The Journal News/lohud the confrontation started when, for the second time, DiBernardo hired a friend of hers to work at the shelter without consulting him. Sanducci said that, as director, hiring and firing were supposed to be his decisions.

When the argument with DiBernardo escalated, Sanducci said he decided to walk off the job and take his complaints to County Executive Ed Day. He said a board member stood by the door and said anyone who left would lose their job.

With the balance of his staff having walked off the job and in tow, Sanducci said he went to Day’s office and spoke with Stephen Powers, director of policy and intergovernmental relations, about not just DiBernardo’s attempted hiring, but a myriad other problems. Powers told the Hi Tor staff to go home — assuring them on DiBernardo's behalf that none would be fired — and assured them the county would investigate the issues at the shelter.

The board terminated Sanducci on Saturday for job abandonment. He had been with the shelter for 10 years, working his way up from volunteer to kennel attendant to supervisor to shelter manager.

“So many tears were shed today by so many people because of what’s happening,” he said. “Without us, (the shelter) is going to fail. It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.”

DiBernardo, in an emailed statement, said it was the shelter's board, not Sanducci, that implemented the no-kill policy. That will remain in effect, she said, thanking those who came in to staff the shelter after Sanducci's departure.

In a statement, Day said, as a contract agency, the county does not have direct control of the goings on at Hi Tor.

“We were informed that there have been some festering personnel issues that were being addressed,” Day said. “Personnel matters are the domain of any organization and independent of government. I was told directly by a volunteer that there were already volunteers on site to ensure proper care for the animals.”

Day said the county Department of Health, the agency charged with oversight of Hi Tor, will monitor the situation there.

Barbara Leavey, who served on the Hi Tor board from 2005 to 2013, credited Sanducci with turning the shelter around.

“I was on the board when they were killing everything,” she said.

The Hi Tor Animal Shelter Facebook page was removed from the site late Saturday morning, and calls to the shelter went straight to voicemail. The Facebook page returned late Saturday afternoon bearing the message that Hi Tor would remain a no-kill shelter.